{"id":798375,"date":"2026-07-13T04:33:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/798375\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T04:33:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T04:33:14","slug":"nascar-has-rebuilt-is-commercial-engine-to-tempt-back-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/798375\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR has rebuilt is commercial engine to tempt back fans"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASCAR draws roughly half the television audiences<\/a> it once attracted a decade ago<\/a>, just as Formula 1 has surged in popularity among American motorsports fans. In response to both pressures, the homegrown racing league has been quietly retuning to its consumer brand and sponsorship operations simultaneously.<\/p>\n

To refresh its image and appeal, NASCAR launched a brand campaign in late spring promoting the opening of the season. Behind the scenes, NASCAR has also been investing in its commercial operation to better attract sponsors and commercial partners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The league expanded its commercial sales team by 25%, and over the last 12 months, welcomed 17 fresh sponsors to the winner\u2019s circle, according to chief commercial officer Craig Stimmel. While some, like O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts, are endemic to the automotive\/aftermarket category, companies like Airbnb and defense tech company Anduril hail from without.<\/p>\n

According to Jess Smith, vp of brand content, a former Under Armor and Stewart-Haas F1 team exec who joined in 2024, NASCAR\u2019s campaign is built around a hero film<\/a> featuring fighter jets, beer pong, muscle cars and Lynyrd Skynyrd. It\u2019s meant to \u201creintroduce\u201d viewers to the \u201cfun, visceral, bold experience\u201d of watching the sport, she said.<\/p>\n

Smith has overhauled the league\u2019s approach to organic content, too. \u201cSocial used to be an afterthought; now it\u2019s the starting point,\u201d she said. The campaign principally ran on YouTube and Meta properties, with the intention of raising awareness of events like this Sunday\u2019s (July 12) race at Atlanta\u2019s Echopark Speedway, and shifting in-person tickets. Smith didn\u2019t disclose NASCAR\u2019s media budget.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to engage our core again and grow our fan base,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Competition on the grid<\/p>\n

Given the campaign fell during America\u2019s 250th birthday year, that should have been a simple enough proposition. The league even has the gift of a fresh storyline for fans, in the form of Michael Jordan-backed team<\/a> 23XI Racing.<\/p>\n

\u00a0But NASCAR\u2019s top execs must also contend with the fact that they now share an audience, and the attention of sponsors within the motorsports lane, with a relative newcomer.<\/p>\n

According to Nielsen data shared with Digiday, Formula 1 is the most popular single sports league worldwide, boasting a fanbase of some 830 million; 16-29 year old consumers predominate. <\/p>\n

NASCAR\u2019s campaign film itself thumbs its nose at F1: \u201c\u2019If you want perfect turns and polite applause, you know where to find it,\u201d intones the voiceover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But while F1\u2019s U.S. viewership still lags NASCAR, it has momentum<\/a>. Val Middleton, evp and head of sport, North America at M+C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment, said: \u201cWith consumers under 45, we\u2019re seeing a broader consumption of motorsports as a passion point rather than allegiance to a single series. The expansion to three States-side Grands Prix, coupled with the cultural impact of [Netflix show] Drive to Survive, has dramatically increased awareness of F1 and elevated motorsports into a lifestyle category.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stimmel argued that the crossover between NASCAR\u2019s audience and F1\u2019s remains limited (\u201cWe over-index with blue-collar workers,\u201d he noted), and marketers are paying attention to those distinctions. CMOs, after all, are in the business of converting the cultural cachet of sports properties \u2014 whatever currency it\u2019s traded in but so long as it fits the mission \u2014 into brand lift, engagement and ultimately sales.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Sponsorship deals] should be guided by business objectives and the role each property plays in the customer journey,\u201d said Middleton.<\/p>\n

AI operations company Rubrik, for example, is a partner of both the McLaren Mastercard Formula 1 Team and the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team. Deanna Singrey, Rubrik\u2019s brand director, told Digiday the company paid close attention to the \u201cbrand conversations\u201d offered by a sports property.<\/p>\n

\u201cFormula 1 is a global stage built around precision engineering, zero-margin-for-error performance, and technology as a competitive weapon,\u201d said Singrey. \u201cThose aren\u2019t just talking points for us, they\u2019re core to what Rubrik does and what our customers demand. So the choice isn\u2019t really about which motorsport, it\u2019s about where the fit runs deeper than demographics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The growth of F1 in the U.S. has been ill-timed for NASCAR. While viewership has ebbed away, other sports properties have expanded both in fanbase terms and commercial ones.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cF1 is all about precision, elite-level performance, and a luxury vibe that plays globally,\u201d said Jess Manganelli, head of client services at brand consultancy Redscout. \u201cNASCAR\u2019s story over the last 20 years is messier. It\u2019s a sport that had a real identity, drifted from it, and is now trying to find its way back.\u201d <\/p>\n

Under the hood<\/p>\n

While Smith has been working to reinforce NASCAR\u2019s connection to its fans, her colleague Stimmel has been building up the league\u2019s commercial operation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The league has been on a hiring tear, bringing on former CAA exec Jake Krantz in as senior director of national partnerships; former Chicago Fire vp Alexandria Munoz as managing director of commercial revenue; and former International Speedway commercial exec TR Stape as vp of integrated media. Stimmel himself brings experience from P&G, Snap and WWE to bear since he joined in 2024.<\/p>\n

NASCAR, which owns most of the racetracks used in the season, is selling more extensive packages than other sports leagues, argued Stimmel, offering marketers a full-fat package without the need to negotiate with multiple rightsholders or vendors. Bespoke bundles often include digital activations, trackside out-of-home inventory and experiential opportunities on race days. \u201cWe\u2019ve become a lot more flexible in what we offer to brands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stimmel pointed to Anduril as a case in point. At last season\u2019s San Diego race<\/a> the defense firm sponsored a car, held the presenting sponsor slot and ran coordinated TV spots \u2014 a package negotiated through NASCAR. And Arby\u2019s, which partnered with NASCAR for the 2025 Chicago Street Race, returned to sponsor that event again this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Though NASCAR has begun using media mix modeling (MMM) and works with partners such as partners include Two Circles, Nielsen and Meltwater to provide effectiveness metrics, Stimmel said NASCAR aimed to support brands\u2019 own measurement systems rather than develop its own solution in the way that the Chicago Bulls have<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll craft a deal to make sure it delivers on whatever their success measure is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Early signs suggesting Stimmel and Smith\u2019s work is bearing fruit. 59% of the ticketholders June\u2019s Chicagoland race were newbies, while eight of its NASCAR Cup Series events staged so far this year have sold out.<\/p>\n

Manganelli said the league\u2019s combination of unique sponsorship offerings can prove tempting, if its consumer-facing operation can reconnect with the sport\u2019s fanbase.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNASCAR has a real asset in grit. And it\u2019s built on proximity, not exclusivity: fans camp trackside, sponsors activate in the parking lot, and nobody\u2019s behind a velvet rope,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it only works if it\u2019s more than a tagline. If the racing, the tracks, and the driver pipeline don\u2019t actually reflect a return to that identity, \u2018heartland\u2019 is just marketing layered over a sport still figuring out what it is. Advertisers who get in early and tie their money to the real signals \u2014 local tracks, regional programs, and drivers with actual ties to those communities \u2014 stand to benefit if this is real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NASCAR draws roughly half the television audiences it once attracted a decade ago, just as Formula 1 has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":798376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82,273558],"class_list":["post-798375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports","tag-the-sports-marketing-playbook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=798375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/798375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/798376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=798375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=798375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=798375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}